$5 MILLION: Website to apply for cares act money currently down on first day it opens to public

FLORIDA — Federal unemployment money has come to an end, and Florida’s current ban on evictions ends at the end of this month.

Jax Legal Aid Spokesman, Jim Kowalski says the pressure is now put on tenants to pay their rent.

“Some of the data that we’ve seen recently estimated there are 851,000 tenants at immediate risk of eviction in Florida,” Kowalski said.

That’s why Kowalski believes the $5 million in Cares Act Money coming to Northeast Florida should be dispersed to agencies throughout the city.

“It would be nice to know where the cares act money is coming into the local system so that folks can be directed to those resources. I think those are all things we’re hoping to learn in the weeks to come,” Kowalski said.

The Northeast Florida Community Action website states:

Our website is experiencing higher than normal traffic and some users are unable to access our online scheduler then it goes on to say we are working to fix the issue check back later.

Some say the only thing keeping many tenants from being evicted from their homes is an executive order by Governor Ron Desantis and money that will be given to local families.

“Hopefully between a combination of those different efforts we can help folks who are now going to be losing their unemployment benefits, again though is for the renters they’ve got 5 days to file that argument with the court. At least tell the judge in the simplest terms possible that they have an income loss including now with the loss of unemployment benefits,” Kowalski mentioned.

Cox Media Group